DALLAS — After Iowa and New Hampshire voted, but before Nevada and South Carolina have their say, staffers working for democratic presidential candidates started zeroing in on Texas.
With 261 delegates up for grabs, the Lone Star State cannot be ignored.
Almost every presidential candidate scheduled events across North Texas this weekend.
That’s in addition to ads saturating airwaves right now.
“Something’s really different right now,” said Lee Daugherty, owner of Alexandre’s bar in Oak Lawn, describing the interest he’s feeling from democratic candidates ahead of Super Tuesday.
Daugherty is a Bernie Sanders supporter. He is hosting a Sanders campaign party Friday night with nationally known civil rights activist Shaun King – a Sanders surrogate - headlining.
Sanders, Joe Biden, Tom Steyer, Mike Bloomberg all opened physical offices in Dallas. Bloomberg has a total of five offices in the immediate Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Elizabeth Warren has four offices in Texas, including one in Fort Worth.
A deputy press secretary in the Pete Buttigieg campaign said because their volunteers and supporters already live in the communities where they are organizing and mobilizing, they don't need a physical office.
Daugherty believes the presence from candidates he's seeing in 2020 - in the form of offices, rallies, visits from surrogates, or canvassing efforts - is energizing Democrats.
“We’ve been the red, Republican-controlled state,” he said. “That wall seemed so insurmountable.”
“It’s really exciting.”